No business like Snow Business: Company re-creating winter wonderland for 'Semi-Pro'

Around the globe, Roland Hathaway has made snow in more than 100 ways. In Flint, he needs only one.

Hathaway is co-owner of Snow Business Hollywood, a Los Angeles-based company that specializes in creating artificial snow on film and television sets.

On Monday, he and his crew prepared to coat some of downtown Flint with the white stuff for the movie "Semi-Pro."

Hathaway's company decorated the fantasy land of "The Chronicles of Narnia" and covered a ship with ice in the upcoming blockbuster "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," so the Flint job, by comparison, wasn't so challenging. But it wasn't effortless.

Snow Business Hollywood's 15-person crew laid thin, white plastic mats of terran, a cellulose-based product, over grass along a block of E. First Street between Harrison and S. Saginaw streets. Along parts of Saginaw, First and Second streets, piles of dirt were unloaded next to the curbs every few feet.

"Over those, we'll put 'snow' -- made of paper and water, and called Snowcel -- lightly on top of the dirt," Hathaway said. "The dirt provides the texture for the snow."

The foamlike substance also will be sprayed on awnings and other storefronts along S. Saginaw. It's part of the preparation for winter scenes to be filmed later this week for "Semi-Pro," a Will Ferrell comedy set in 1976 Flint.

"We want a slushy look," Hathaway said. "The street has to look as if a snowplow has been through, piling up the snow, ... as if the snow has been there for three to four days."

Snow Business Hollywood began work in Flint on Sunday by covering half a block of Gladwyn Street next to Durant-Tuuri-Mott Elementary School with ersatz snow on which extras drove cars and even roller-skated.

The company has been in business for five years as a spinoff from London-based Snow Business. The American concern is busy throughout the calendar, with three to four major projects per year.

Among its credits are the feature films "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," "Vanilla Sky," "Van Helsing," "Bad Santa," "X-Men," "Kill Bill," "The Day After Tomorrow" and the HBO miniseries "Band of Brothers."

Hathaway, 37, considers the work on the World War II saga "Band of Brothers" among the jobs he's most proud of "in terms of the terrain and the logistics," he said. "We had men in England and France for eight to nine months."

The company uses a variety of methods -- 168, according to its Web site, -- based on the amount and texture of snow needed and the climate of the locale.

"It depends on how people (in the movie) are supposed to react to the snow, whether it's just background (as in 'Semi-Pro') or more than that," Hathaway said. "In some films, you make snow that won't get people's fancy shoes wet.

"And, for example, if you're in a warm climate and you have a close-up of people walking in the snow, you might not want to use ice because it would be too cold for the plant life."

Artificial snow is desirable for filmmakers, he said, because "it's cheaper, and easier to repair if people step on it too much or for too long. It also allows more camera freedom."

Hathaway contracted with Sweep Master, a Rochester Hills-based street sweeping company, to distribute the snow along the Flint streets.

"It's great for the city, but you'll only see this stuff in the movie for about five seconds," said Tom Chapman, Sweep Master co-owner, as he helped dump dirt Monday.

If the dirt falls victim to heavy rain or wind before the cameras roll, it'll have to be swept back up and re-piled.

"Ah, the joys of moviemaking," Hathaway said, grimacing at the prospect.